May 16 – The inaugural Asian Football Confederation U-20 Futsal Championship kicked off today in Bangkok, Thailand, with 21 teams playing for the AFC title and qualification for the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 16 – Asian football’s new female FIFA Council member, whose election last week was given little fanfare amid the maelstrom of the FIFA Congress in Bahrain, says she aims to elevate the game throughout the Continent despite her relative inexperience on the international stage.
May 16 – Argentine star Ezequiel Lavezzi, one of the most highly paid players in world football, has been forced to apologise after he made a slant-eyed pose in promotional pictures for his Chinese Super League club.
May 16 – Britain’s biggest selling daily newspaper the Sun has dropped its former editor Kelvin MacKenzie, now an outspoken columnist, over an article he wrote likening Everton midfielder Ross Barkley, an England international, to a gorilla.
May 16 – The International Champions Cup are having a second shot at staging the first ever Manchester derby outside Manchester. This time the US organisers are looking to play the game at the NRG Stadium in Houston Texas.
May 16 – The CIES Football Observatory has ranked the best players of the 2016/17 season using their stats analysis and have come up with a Best XI that includes five players from the Bundesliga wth four of them – Manuel Neuer, Javi Martinez, Mats Hummels and Thiago Alcantara – from Bayern Munich.
May 16 – Newly promoted Newcastle United are swapping shirt sponsors with pay day loans company Wonga making way for online bookmaker and casino FUN88 in a three-year deal.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 15 – Germany’s jettisoned FIFA ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert has spoken of his personal hurt at being targeted in Gianni Infantino’s purge of senior judicial personnel.
By Paul Nicholson
May 15 – Timing is everything in football and there would have been a few ironic smiles at the weekend when it was announced in the US that Judge Michael J. Garcia of the New York Court of Appeals was one of four candidates being interviewed for the role of FBI Director to replace the ousted James Comey.
By Andrew Warshaw
May 15 – When the final whistle blew on Sunday to confirm Tottenham Hotspur’s highest top-flight finish in English football for 54 years, it wasn’t just coming second that prompted thousands of delirious fans to invade the pitch.
May 15 – When Chelsea announced last April that Italian Antonio Conte would become their manager, they knew they had signed someone with a proven track record of success. But having finished 10th the previous season, getting back to winning the Premier League title straight away seemed too tall an order.
May 15 – Spain’s FC Barcelona will launch a team in the US National Women’s Soccer League for the 2018 season. The club, which is targeting brand growth in the US, says the team will strengthen its women’s programme.
By Samindra Kunti
May 15 – After 18 years Dutch giants Feyenoord have won the Eredivisie again. A stunning hat-trick from Dirk Kuyt ensured a comfortable 3-1 against Heracles to hold off Ajax Amsterdam.
May 15 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) had 38 of its member nations take part in its grassroots football day, its fifth since 2013 and a consecutive year-on-year increase of nearly 60% from 2015 to 2017.
By Paul Nicholson
May 13 – FIFA secretary general, Fatma Samoura, in the job for barely a year, has been caught paying over CHF28,000 to a cleaning company for the servicing of her own private living quarters.